Saving Toys and Teaching to Compromise
by ncc2011
Summary: When Andy is home for Christmas break, Bonnie comes to his door begging to take his toys back so her friend can't ruin them.  Can Andy resolve the differences between the two?


Andy was glad to be home for Christmas break. It had been a stressful first term of college, being in an unfamiliar place and getting used to the workload that came with his classes. Yeah, he had new friends to offset the pressures of being a freshman, but he had not yet developed any deep bonds with anybody there and would still much rather hang out with his high school friends. What made his break better was that it allowed him to be home from Thanksgiving until just after New Year's.

Despite all his time off, his mother insisted he get a seasonal job to help pay tuition costs and things like that. Andy found work at an Al's Toy Barn, which had successfully reinvented itself a decade after the owner's failed attempt to sell his "Woody's Roundup" collection to Japan. The reality of working at a toy store, even just for a short time, made Andy miss the toys he used to own a bit, but it being the holiday season, the store was always busy, so Andy didn't have a lot of time to think about all the playtime he used to have. Still, Buzz Lightyear action figures had recently seen a sudden spike in popularity, so anytime Andy had to handle them, he kind of longed for the one he got for his sixth birthday all those years ago.

During one of his few days off, he intended to use his time to relax at home. However, it was also a day that had unseasonably warm temperatures, 65 degrees to be exact. Andy decided that maybe later, he would take advantage of this pleasant day in December to go on a bike ride or shoot hoops or something. First however, he decided to do what a college student might do on a normal day off this time of year: catch up on his video games.

Since he was back for so long, Andy had brought a lot of his things back with him so he could take his room back from Molly. His sister didn't particularly like having to move back into her old room, but she knew how things were. Among the things he put back in his room were his TV and video game system, so that's where he made his way to after he finished getting ready for the day. Once he entered, he turned those two things on, sat back in his chair and got into his playing mindset.

He had the whole house to himself. His mom was at work and Molly was at school. It was the perfect time for peace and quiet – and video games. Not having to worry about work or school for one day allowed him to fully concentrate on the task at hand and frankly, he wouldn't have asked for anything else.

It was 1:30 in the afternoon when Andy had been playing for about two hours. He was in a tie game in the third quarter of the football game he was playing against the computer. It wasn't as fun as having someone to play with, but he took what he could get.

He was just deciding whether to go for it on a fourth-and-short situation when he heard frantic rings of the doorbell. Wondering who that was, Andy paused his game and got up to answer the door. Whoever was there kept on ringing the bell and Andy was getting annoyed by it. He picked up the pace a little bit just so the ringing could stop sooner.

He suspected it might be a little kid in the neighborhood who was just doing this for their own amusement. As it turned out, he was half right. When he answered the door, he saw a little neighborhood kid, but he knew this kid and she looked scared. And she had some familiar playthings in her arms.

"Bonnie?" replied Andy. "Hi. What can I do for you? And why do you look so worried?"

"Here, take 'em," said Bonnie quickly. "I'll come back with the rest."

She was carrying Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye. Andy looked puzzled.

"What do you mean 'take 'em'?" asked Andy. "Here, come on in. Tell me what's wrong."

Bonnie came in and Andy led her into the living room. They both sat down on the couch.

"I was at my friend Jamie's house on this street and we got into a fight over what to play," said Bonnie. "I wanted to play tea party and she wanted to play doctor. Then she said she'd make sure we'd play what she wanted to play by ruining these toys I brought over. When I screamed no, she said if I did it again, she'd find a way to ruin all my other toys too!"

"Did she say how she would have ruined them?" asked Andy.

"By throwing them into her beagle Kaiser's bed and Kaiser always chews up anything he finds in there!" replied Bonnie. "You said to take care of your toys, so I'm bringing them where they can't get hurt."

Bonnie dropped the toys into Andy's lap, but Andy just shook his head.

"Bonnie," said Andy. "As much as I'd love to have all my old toys back, they're yours now and I don't want them back under these circumstances. I'd rather you keep them until you don't want them anymore and you don't look like you really want to give them back."

"But if I don't give them back to you, they'll be ruined!" protested Bonnie.

"You know what? We're gonna put a stop to this right now. You're going back to Jamie's house and I'm going with you."

"But…"

"No buts. I don't want you to lose a friend over a little fight and I don't think either of us wants anything to happen to the toys."

"Can we leave them here?"

"No, we're taking them with. If you're that worried about them, I'll carry them."

So with toys in hand, Andy walked with Bonnie to Jamie's house. He knew the family, so he didn't have to ask Bonnie where the house was. It was across the street and three houses down from where Andy lived.

As they made the walk, Andy looked down at his old toys. He gave a small smile since he was holding a few of them once again. In the back of his mind however, he was worried about their welfare. Their future depended on what he was about to do.

They walked up to the house and Andy rang the doorbell. Andy could see Bonnie was nervous about coming back here. Jamie's mother answered the door.

"Oh hi Andy," said the mother. "Welcome back, Bonnie. I was just wondering where you went."

"Hi Mrs. Dixon," said Andy. "Do you mind if I have a word with Jamie?"

"Sure," replied Mrs. Dixon. "She could use a nice talking to. I just told her to stay in her room for fighting with Bonnie."

Andy and Bonnie made their way upstairs and knocked on Jamie's door.

"What do you want?" yelled a sullen girl's voice.

"Hi Jamie," answered Andy. "It's Andy from across the street. I have Bonnie here with me. May we come in?"

"Fine," snapped Jamie.

Andy and Bonnie walked in to find Jamie sitting down on her rug with her arms crossed and a snippy look on her face.

"I'd like to talk to you about what you said you'd do to these toys," said Andy.

"Why?" shouted Jamie. "It's my room and my house, so we should do what I want!"

"That's not how it works," said Andy. "You can do what you want when you're by yourself, but you have to remember that Bonnie is over, so she may not like everything you like. You have to think about what she likes so she can have a good time too. It's not fun if one of you isn't enjoying yourself."

Jamie looked like she understood, but Andy wasn't entirely convinced. He figured maybe what he had to say next would make her realize the error of her ways. After all, it's not easy to change the mindsets of little kids.

"Let me show you something," he said to Jamie.

With that, he lifted the soles of the toys' feet where his name was still inscribed. Jamie looked confused. Weren't these Bonnie's toys?

"These toys used to belong to me," explained Andy. "I loved them just as much as Bonnie does now. I gave them to her just before I went off to college a few months ago. I remember telling her they meant a lot to me and they still do. If you go off and feed them to your dog, you'd be hurting my feelings too. Do you understand?"

Jamie nodded her head. She also came to a realization. Before, she didn't know big people could have hurt feelings or cry. She had never even seen her own parents cry and she didn't want to start seeing these things now.

"Okay then," said Andy. "Now Bonnie, you have to be more open to new games too. Jamie may not like the same things you like, but it's best for you to try them because you may end up liking them yourself. Everyone is different in their own way and that's why people enjoy meeting other people. Otherwise, we'd all be the same and what kind of fun would that be?"

"Not that much fun I guess," said Bonnie.

"Exactly," replied Andy. "Now both of you say you're sorry to each other."

"Sorry Bonnie," said Jamie. "I won't ruin any of your toys."

"Sorry Jamie," said Bonnie. "I won't argue with you like that again."

"Alright," said Andy. "You girls have a good time."

"Wait!" yelled Jamie as Andy got up to leave. "Don't you wanna play with us?"

"Oh I don't know," said Andy. "I should probably leave."

"No, don't do that!" yelled Bonnie. "Stay here!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Jamie. "You said these used to be your toys. I don't know anything about them. Can you and Bonnie show me how they work?"

"Well, okay," said Andy, who was jumping up and down on the inside at the chance to revisit his childhood again.

The three of them played together until Bonnie's mother came to pick her up. How long the playtime lasted in real time didn't matter. Jamie and Bonnie had resolved their differences and Andy had gotten the opportunity to feel like a kid once again.


End file.
